Kevin McHale will walk through that door.
After a month-long search and long sessions debating the merits of three finalists, the Rockets offered McHale their head coaching position on Friday. McHale was chosen over Boston assistant Lawrence Frank and Dallas assistant Dwane Casey after meeting with Rockets owner Leslie Alexander on Wednesday to complete the interview process.
McHale has agreed in principle to a three-year deal plus a team option. Remaining detail is agreeing on a top assistant coach, defensive specialists like the other finalists,*Frank and Casey.
They'll try to agree to coaching staff today, but there are issues with a couple of candidates getting out of contracts.
Though McHale is more celebrated as a Hall of Fame player who among other things inspired Rick Pitino's rant about the inability to recapture the Boston glory days than as a coach, the Rockets were drawn to his apparent abilities as a leader and motivator.
McHale, 53, had spent most of his career in Minnesota in the front office and had been reluctant to coach throughout his career.
McHale was made Timberwolves vice president of basketball operations in 1995 after one season as a broadcaster and special assistant. He finished the 2004-05 season as an interim coach after firing Flip Saunders.
He went 19-12 that season, but expressed his unwillingness to pursue a coaching career.
"The chances of me doing this long term are slim to none," McHale said
in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2005. "I just don't think I'm cut out to be a career coach."
In 2008-09, Timberwolves owner instructed him to return to the bench. He went 20-43 that season, but seemed to warm to the idea of coaching and earned public support of his players. He was dismissed, however, after the season, ending his tenure in Minnesota, where he had been a high school Mr. Basketball and selected in 1995 as the top player in the University of Minnesota's history.